Princes and Thieves
by Matilda9494
Summary: Clara Oswald is engaged to marry the wonderful, charming John Smith. But she starts to change her mind when she meets his eccentric cousin. And then things get really complicated when she winds up involved with a gang of jewel thieves.
1. Chapter 1

The noise from the party spilled out from downstairs. Clara could hear the chatter of hundreds of elegant guests, all dressed to the nines, all engaged in serious discussions of politics and economics. Is this really what these people found fun?

She sighed and flopped down onto the window seat, watching the rain streak down the window and trying to disappear. Normally, of course, she loved parties. She loved hanging out with her friends, making jokes and socializing. But here… everyone was judging her, trying to see if she was good enough. She didn't know what she was doing, thinking she could just marry the richest guy around and everything would be alright. Of course there would be expensive parties, of course there would be incredibly affluent relatives all around, and of course this would be one of the expectations of her. She'd just been so stupid.

She turned and stood hastily as she heard footsteps on the stairs. Only her fiancé would have bothered to come look for her, and it would not do for her to show him that she was tired. John needed her to be strong; he needed her to prove that she was worthy of being his wife. When she faced the newcomer, however, it was not her fiancé.

The man standing before her was almost as tall as John, with floppy brown hair, deep-set grey-green eyes, and a remarkably prominent chin. He was wearing a long purple coat with a matching vest and bowtie, and he was bouncing on his heels, as though he were incapable of standing still. "Hello there!" He said, holding out his hand for her to shake. "You must be Ten's fiancé, Clara."

She took his hand hesitantly, looking him up and down. "'M sorry, who are you?" She asked. "And who's Ten? I'm John's fiancé, John Smith's."

"Yeah, that's the thing. I'm John Smith, too, a cousin of your fiancé's. He's the tenth one in the family to be born with the name, and I'm the eleventh, so our family just calls us by our numbers. He's Ten, I'm Eleven, see? Much less confusing that way. Anyway, point is, I thought you might like to see the observatory?"

"Well it seems to me your parents ought to have been more creative with their names."

"Perhaps. Do you want to see the observatory or not?"

Clara grinned. "Absolutely. Rescue me, Chin Boy, and show the stars."

He grabbed her hand and pulled and they started up the stairs before a voice called them to a halt. "Clara! Where are you going? It's almost time for the first dance."

It was Ten. "Sorry John," Clara said, feeling as reluctant to let go of Eleven's hand as she had been at first to take it, but dropping it anyway and descending the stairs to her waiting boyfriend. "I guess I'll take a rain check," she told the other man.

"Yeah, sure." He nodded. She thought he seemed a little offended, but she didn't have time to worry about that now.

John Smith offered Clara Oswald his arm, and she took it. Together, they walked down the stairs to lead the company in a sweeping waltz.


	2. Chapter 2

Clara woke up early Monday morning, tucked into her own bed in her own little apartment at last. She'd spent the entire weekend at John's house, entertaining nearly every night, but since Friday, she hadn't seen his mysterious cousin. She had eventually wandered up to the observatory, hoping to run into him, but he seemed to have vanished.

She was barely on time for work that day. "Good morning, Rory," she said, catching up to the nurse in the parking lot of the hospital. "How was your weekend?"

"Awful." He shrugged, running a hand through his hair and messing it up. Clara waited for him to elaborate, but when he didn't, she quickly changed the subject. They made it all the way to the door discussing the new additions to the children wing. Once inside, they separated, Rory heading to A&E and Clara taking the elevator all the way to the basement to the IT department.

The day passed pretty uneventfully until lunch time, when Clara decided to go out and stretch her legs. There was a nice little café down the street from the hospital, one that sold her favourite type of tea and very nice soufflés. She grabbed her purse and headed down the street.

When she pushed the door of the café open, she was greeted by the smells of fresh coffee and baked sugar and the shout of her name across the room. "Clara," she heard. "Over here."

It was Martha Jones, youngest and newest doctor at the hospital and one of Clara's friends. She was sitting with a woman Clara didn't know, a woman who projected arrogance and intelligence. The short brunette made her way over to their table. "Hey."

"Hey, Clara," Martha said. "This is Lady Christina de Souza."

"Nice to meet you," Lady Christina offered her hand and smiled dangerously as Clara took it and shook it briefly. "Why don't you have a seat?"

Clara pulled out a chair and sat down. She then looked from Martha to Christina, silently demanding an explanation from them. Martha sighed and began to speak. "Christina here has a rather unique opportunity for you. We've been assembling a team for quite some time, but we found out today that the person we were counting on for the technological aspect of the project has withdrawn, and we have a dire need of someone with computer skills such as yours."

"You came to the right girl," Clara smirked. "But what- exactly- is this project?"

"That," Christina said before Martha could start talking, "is something I can't tell you now. But," she said, raising her hand to stop Clara's budding protest, "meet me at this address at ten o'clock tonight and you will see." She pushed a piece of paper across the table, and then pushed her chair back, drained her coffee, and checked her watch. "Well now, I really must go. I'll see you ladies tonight."

Clara watched her go, flabbergasted, and then spent the rest of lunch trying to talk more information out of Martha. It didn't work, and when she returned to her office, she was more determined than ever to go to the meeting that night and figure out what was going on.

* * *

A/N: Yes, the chapters will all be this short. Sorry, but it's the only way I know to keep the story going and keep me updating. Thank you for reading and please review!


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